Paradesi Jews

Paradesi Jews

Portrait of David Henriques De Castro, by Gabriel Haim Henriques De Castro (1838-1897)
Regions with significant populations
Israel 70
India 5+2[1]
Languages
Initially Ladino, later Judeo-Malayalam, Tamil now mostly Hebrew
Religion
Orthodox Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Cochin Jews
Sephardic Jews
Sephardic Jews in India
Luso-Indian
De Castro family (Sephardi Jewish)
Henriques family

Paradesi Jews were originally Sephardic immigrants to India from Sepharad (Spain and Portugal) during the 15th and 16th centuries who fled conversion or persecution in the wake of the Alhambra Decree expelling Jews from Spain. They are sometimes referred to as White Jews, although that usage is generally considered pejorative or discriminatory and refers to relatively recent Jewish immigrants (end of the 15th century onward), predominantly Sephardim.[2]

Paradesi Jews of Cochin were mainly traders are a community of Sephardic Jews settled among the larger Cochin Jewish community located in Kerala, a coastal southern state of India.[2]

Paradesi Jews of Madras traded in diamonds, precious stones and corals, they had very good relations with the rulers of Golkonda, they maintained trade connections to Europe, and their language skills were useful. Although the Sephardim spoke Ladino (i.e. Spanish or Judeo-Spanish), in India they learned Tamil and Judeo-Malayalam from the Malabar Jews.[3]

History

The East India Company (EIC) wanted to break the monopoly of Portugal in trading with diamonds and precious stones from the mines of Golkonda. The EIC entered India around 1600 and had built Fort St. George (White Town) fortress by 1644[4] at the coastal city of Madras, now known as Chennai.

EIC policy permitted only its shareholders to trade in diamonds and precious stones from the mines. The Company considered the Madras Jews to be interlopers because they traded separately through their Jewish community connections.[5]

Madras Jews specialised in diamonds, precious stones and corals.[6] They had very good relations with the rulers of Golkonda and this was seen as beneficial to St. George, so Madras Jews were gradually accepted as honourable citizens of St. George/Madras.[7]

Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia), originally from Amsterdam, was an early Jewish arrival and a leader of the community. He established good relations with those in power and bought several mines. Through his efforts, Jews were permitted to live within Fort St. George.[8]

De Paiva died in 1687 after a visit to his mines and was buried in the Jewish cemetery which he had established in Peddanaickenpet, which later became the north Mint Street,[8] alongside the synagogue which also existed at Mint Street.[9] }} In 1670, the Portuguese population in Madras numbered around 3000. Before his death he established ‘The Colony of Jewish Traders of Madraspatam’ with Antonio do Porto, Pedro Pereira and Fernando Mendes Henriques.[8] This enabled more Portuguese Jews, from Leghorn, the Caribbean, London and Amsterdam to settle in Madras. Coral Merchant Street was name after the Jews' business.[10]

Three Portuguese Jews were nominated to be aldermen of Madras Corporation.[11] Three - Bartolomeo Rodrigues, Domingo do Porto and Alvaro da Fonseca - also founded the largest trading house in Madras. The large tomb of Rodrigues, who died in Madras in 1692, became a landmark in Peddanaickenpet but was later destroyed.[12]

Samuel de Castro came to Madras from Curaçao and Salomon Franco came from Leghorn.[8][13]

Isaac Sardo Abendana (1662–1709), who came from Holland, died in Madras. He was a close friend of Thomas Pitt and may have been responsible for the fortune that Pitt amassed.[8]

Portuguese Jews were used as diplomats by the East India Company to expand English trading. Avraham Navarro was the most prominent of these.[14]

Plan of Fort St George and the city of Madras in 1726,Shows b.Jews Burying Place, Four Brothers Garden and Bartolomeo Rodrigues Tomb

Paradesi synagogues and cemeteries

The Paradesi Jews had built three Paradesi Synagogues and Cemeteries.

In 1500 the first Paradesi synagogues and cemeteries was built in Coral Merchant Street, George Town, Madras, which had a large presence of Portuguese Jews in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Neither the synagogue nor the Jewish population remains today.[15]

In 1568 Second Paradesi Synagogue and Cemetery was built in Cochin-Jew Street, the oldest synagogue in Cochin, adjacent to Mattancherry Palace, Cochin, now part of the Indian city of Ernakulam, on land given to them by the Raja of Kochi.[16]

In 1644 Third Paradesi Synagogue and Cemetery was built by Jacques (or Jaime) de Paivia in Madras, Peddanaickenpet, which later became the North end of Mint Street,[8] It was demolished by local government in 1934 and the tombstones were moved to the Central Park of Madras along with the gate of the cemetery on which Beit ha-Haim (the usual designation for a Jewish cemetery, literally "House of Life") were written in Hebrew.[17] The tombstones were moved again in 1979 to Kasimedu, when government school was approved to be built. In 1983, they were moved to Lloyds Road, when the Chennai Harbour expansion project was approved.[9] In this whole process 17 tombstones went missing, including that of Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia).[18]

Notable Madras Paradesi Jews

Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia) – He was first Madras Jewish community leader, he built Paradesi Synagogue and Cemetery in Madras, Peddanaickenpet. [8][9]

Bartolomeo Rodrigues – Among 12 aldermen who founded Madras Corporation[8] Domingo do Porto – Among 12 aldermen who founded Madras Corporation[8] Alvaro da Fonseca – Among 12 aldermen who founded Madras Corporation[8] Above Four were called four brothers, they had their own garden in which Bartolomeo Rodrigues Tomb was built. Plan of Fort St George and the city of Madras in 1726, shows Four Brothers Garden and Bartolomeo Rodrigues Tomb

Antonio do Porto – The Colony of Jewish Traders of Madraspatam[8]

Pedro Pereira – The Colony of Jewish Traders of Madraspatam[8]

Fernando Mendes Henriques – The Colony of Jewish Traders of Madraspatam[8]

Avraham Navarro – Prominent Jewish diplomats of East India Company[19]

Samuel de Castro – Founder of De Castro Trading house.[8][13]

Salomon Franco – Founder of De Castro Trading house.[8][13]

Isaac Sardo Abendana – Best Diamond Appraiser[8]

Places named after Madras Paradesi Jews

This colonial street has a long history, there was a synagogue and Jewish cemetery
Isaac Street named after Isaac Henriques De Castro who was killed in the Holocaust
Pereira Street named after Pedro Pereira- Member of, The Colony of Jewish Traders of Madraspatam[8]

See also

References

Notes

    Citations

    1. ↑ Census of India 2001
    2. 1 2 "The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities by Orpa Slapak". The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 28. ISBN 965-278-179-7.
    3. ↑ Katz 2000; Koder 1973; Thomas Puthiakunnel 1973
    4. ↑ Roberts, J: "History of the World" (Penguin, 1994).
    5. ↑ Sudan, Rajani (2016). The Alchemy of Empire: Abject Materials and the Technologies of Colonialism. Oxford University Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-82327-067-5.
    6. ↑ Gill, Liz (1 September 2011). "Chennai: Where life is enshrined". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
    7. ↑ Muthiah, S., ed. (2008). Madras, Chennai: A 400-year Record of the First City of Modern India. 1. Palaniappa Brothers. p. 183. ISBN 978-8-18379-468-8.
    8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Muthiah, S. (3 September 2007). "The Portuguese Jews of Madras". The Hindu. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
    9. 1 2 3 Sundaram, Krithika (31 October 2012). "18th century Jewish cemetery lies in shambles, craves for attention". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
    10. ↑ Muthiah, S. (30 September 2002). "Will Chennai's Jews be there?". The Hindu. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
    11. ↑ Muthiah, S. (2014). Madras Rediscovered. Westland. ISBN 978-9-38572-477-0.
    12. ↑ Parthasarathy, Anusha (3 September 2013). "Lustre dims, legacy stays". The Hindu. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
    13. 1 2 3 "Chennai - India". International Jewish Cemetery Project. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
    14. ↑ Fischel, Walter J. (1956). "Abraham Navarro: Jewish Interpreter and Diplomat in the Service of the English East India Company (1682-1692)". Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 25: 39–62. JSTOR 3622342. doi:10.2307/3622342. (Subscription required (help)).
    15. ↑ S. Muthiah. C. S. Lakshmi, ed. The Unhurried City: Writings on Chennai. Penguin India. p. 30. ISBN 9780143030263.
    16. ↑ "Paradesi Synagogue, Attractions, Mattancherry, Ernakulam, Kerala, India". Kerala Tourism. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
    17. ↑ "The Portuguese Jewish Community Of Madras, India, In The Seventeenth Century". Sefarad.org. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
    18. ↑ Janani Sampath (10 May 2016). "Chennai’s link to its Jewish past, cemetery in Mylapore fading into oblivion". DT Next.
    19. ↑ Fischel, Walter J. (1956). "Abraham Navarro: Jewish Interpreter and Diplomat in the Service of the English East India Company (1682-1692)". Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 25: 39–62. JSTOR 3622342. doi:10.2307/3622342. (Subscription required (help)).

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